MSHP: Drive safe this New Year's holiday

The Missouri State Highway Patrol is encouraging motorists to stay safe this holiday season by allowing extra travel time due to weather and always have a designated sober driver.

The patrol warned of the potential for traffic crashes, getting arrested, legal fees, medical bills, jail time or injuring or killing another person when a person drives while under the influence of a substance.

“No one wants to begin 2013 in jail,” the release states.

Additional troopers will be patrolling Missouri’s highways during the holiday season, focusing from Dec. 28 through Jan. 1, 2013.

Last year, 777 traffic crashes occurred in Missouri over the New Year’s holiday weekend with six people dying and 311 injured in those crashes.